Rebuilding
by p020901
Summary: Summary: After 10 years, the War is almost over. It's time they look up into the future. After-the-War-AU. T for future chapters. (Under rewrite to fit in with season 5.)
1. Chapter 1

**Rebuilding.**

 **Summary:** After 10 years, the War is almost over. It's time they look up into the future. After-the-War-AU.

 **Disclaimer:** RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and the departed Monty Oum, may the gods bless his soul and may he finds all the UNLIMITED DDR-MACHINES in a better place.

* * *

 **Chapter 01:** Jaune Arc - or kinda a Prologue

* * *

 _[12km from Mountain Glenn, field in front of an abandoned Dust mine. 11:23]_

Jaune Arc had seen better day.

He dashed forward, diving under the swipe. The stone construct's arm narrowly missing his hair by a scant centimeter, instead hitting the ground behind him with a quaking smash, cutting a deep gash onto it. Using his own momentum, he rolled back onto his feets, just next to the Vargeist's forward leg.

Despite being only in his late-twenties, none would ever thought so at first glance. He didn't have the spring in his feets that many others at his age did, nor that spark of hopeful light in his eyes.

The motors in his right arm whirred audibly as he clutched Crocea Mors' hilt tightly, cleaving at the knee joint of the beast. He gritted his teeth as to prevent a snarl from escaping his lips. Without being reinforced by his semblance, the relic blade only dug a deep gash behind the golem's knee cap, failing to cut through completely.

The War had taken much from him, he knew. A fact that was reminded to him every day in more ways than just the bio-mechanical replacement of his arm.

The Vargeist growled in anger as it attempted to crush him with it's legs. The golem was deceptively agile for it's huge and clumsy look, yet he was quicker. Just as the beast's foot came down again, he had rolled sideway...

He was tired, but it didn't mean he was out, no. The fire of determination still burnt bright within him, enduring and unceased.

...And sheathed Crocea Mors into his shield. With a press of the button they folded into a greatsword. He grinned. The motors in his right arm heated as it went into overdrive again while his own muscles burnt with exhaustion, he swung the greatsword as hard as he could right at the gash he had created earlier.

The effect was much more noticeable this time. The Grimm roared in pain as Crocea Mors cleaved through completely, sending sparks and bits of stone flying everywhere. With it's leg servered from the knee-cap down, the golem lost it's balance and fell forward, crushed by it's own weight. Before it could attempt to repair itself or at least shield it's face, Crocea Mors thrusted down, banishing the Vargeist from existance. It's dying shriek hurt his ear, but it wasn't something he wasn't used to.

Standing next to the golem's cracking body victoriously, he still didn't let his guard down. If his experiences had taught him at least something, that was never to do so. For the moment, he settled with taking deep and steady breaths to regain some of his stamina. Now that the battle was over, the little adrenaline left in his blood stream quickly dissipated away, leaving him alone with the exhaustion.

"Ouch..." he groaned, stretching his limbs. The little bruises and sore spots he had gained during the last few days still hurt, and his vision admittedly had become a bit blurry. He glanced at his tac-scroll. His aura was almost completely empty - just like it had been for quite a while.

"Shit..." he swore. It might not had been the best idea to take on his tenth field mission in a row after all.

He looked to the mineshaft entrance behind him. This was one of those mines, part of the failed Glenn expansion project and thus was abandoned when the city fell and became infested with Spawners. Having recaptured Mt. Glenn last week, they were now securing the nearby areas, and clearing these hives was on top of that list, thus his personal accompanies of these missions. That, and him wanting to get away from paperworks. Still, after his tenth in a row he had felt a bit... winded, and had stayed behind to guard the entrance, making sure nothing can sneak in behind the team coming in - and damn lucky well he did so.

He pressed on his earpiece.

"B-13 come in." Some garbled statics came through his end. "I repeat. B-13, come in."

Still nothing - wait, what the-!

The earth suddenly shook under his feets, and a single second later from the tunnel entrance out came the hunter team. They sprinted like madmen possessed - and as soon as the last one cleared a massive explosion came from the tunnel, pushing that huntsman face first forward into the huntress in front of him, knocking them both to the ground.

"Holy shit! That was awesome!" The fallen huntsman - Braun, the team leader cracked up laughing. Only a second later did he realize who he was lying on. Or perhaps, what.

"Braun, my...!" Triste shrieked, blushing while the aforementioned huntsman turned beet red as he scrambled away.

Well, maybe with an added smack upside the head.

"Ouch!" "Perv!" "..." "Wha?"

Still, they soon all joined in mirthful laughter together. More like a quiet smile for the guy in pink, but still.

And... Well, except for him.

"...Do I need to know what happened?"

This seemed to freeze them right up.

"Oh-! Commander Arc, sir!" Braun hastily leapt to his feet and saluted him. "We found a... um... small cache of explosives that we utilized to level the hive...?"

Jaune simply gave them an unamused look.

Braun scratched his head nervously, while the other three awkwardly coughed.

"And, uh... we might have set off a dust vein. Or two."

He rolled his eyes.

"Think of something convincing to file in the reports when we return." He chuckled, in which they were only more than willing to nod.

Time to return to base.

* * *

The march back home was a lot less eventful, with only a few occasional wandering Grimm that were quickly dispatched. He walked a bit behind, content with watching them laugh, cracking jokes and bicker over the slightest details.

It brought a nostalgic smile on to his face. This was one of those 'green' teams, he could easily tell. Aside from the fact that he had their backgrounds, that they were still this carefree, and not just out of battle either, was a dead give away.

Something, regretably, might change soon.

A twinge of sadness coiled in his gut.

His eyes hardened. Only more the reasons for him to finish this war, so that the past wouldn't come to repeat again.

* * *

 _[The reclaimed city of Mt. Glenn, Glenn military base. 12:49_ ]

Soon, they were back at the military base in Glenn, the team returning to their posts while he continued on back to the Command Centre.

He sighed. Time to get back to work. Logistics ain't taking care of themselves, even if he had the greatest team anybody could ask for.

Well, not that he needed the sleep anyway. Nor could. Too much idleness than he'd like to deal with.

"Commander," came a feminine voice through his earpiece, his lieutenant. "Someone is demanding to see you, sir. Saying it's urgent."

"Thank you, Miha, just... not now. I still have a few hundred forms to fill out by 15:00, 2 more missions by 17:00 and a Council briefing from 18:00 and I just don't have the time for another of those interviews."

"It's someone from your old team sir."

He sighed, massaging his temples "If it's Neptune or Cardin, tell them I will meet them later in my room."

"No sir, it's-"

He heard a small cracking sound of displaced air behind him.

"-your partner, Ruby Rose."

He froze solid.

Someone tapped his shoulder from behind.

"Copy that, lieutenant. Thank you."

"She found you, huh?" The grin on her face was palpable even through the link, before she cut off.

A shiver crept up his spine. Slowly, very slowly, he turned around.

"Hello, Jaune!"

And there stood Ruby, Crescent Rose strapped onto her back, her lips smiling a smile promising utter misfortune to the recipient...

"Would you care to elaborate to me the reason Cardin had to phone me -again- that you had been skipping rest?" She said sweetly, saccharine-like.

...as in, him.

"Eh..."

"Even if I had, explicitly, warned you not to?" The smile was yet to leave her face, if anything, it only seemed even more terrifying than a few seconds ago.

"..." he stepped backward, a nervous sweat forming on his forehead.

"..." she stepped forward. Her left eye twitched.

"..." he stepped backward.

"..." she stepped forward. Her hand closed up into a fist, a vein comically pulsing on her forehead.

"..." he stepped backward.

"..." she - her fist met his face.

'F**k you Cardin!' Was his last thoughts before he was knocked out like a light.

 _"Jaune?!"_

* * *

 **A/N:**

So... Yeah, that's the first chapter of this story (more like a prologue tho.) I've been gathering my courage to write this for quite a while (half a year...) and, finally, here it is. Yay! :)

Also, something else I want to say about this story is, it is going to be serious. Comical, humourous (hopefully :) ) at times, but serious. Not too dark, but it won't be easy sailing for the cast either. And already things seems to not bode well for Jaune at all. Exhaustion? Getting nailed in the face by *gasp* Ruby? And actually getting knocked out? Wha?

Well, for what happens next, please await chapter 2: Waking up.

See you all next time. And Cheerios!

-P

References:

+Miha: adapted from Czech, 'Mlha' meaning 'mist'.

+Triste: French for dark blue.

+Braun: German for brown.

Greatest thanks to Sandiiitos96 and PotNpaN for helping me write this story.

 **Edit** : just realized uploading messed up the formating.


	2. Chapter 2

**Rebuilding**.

 **Summary** : After 10 years, the War is almost over. It's time they look up into the future. After-the-War-AU.

 **Disclaimer** : RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth and the departed Monty Oum, may the gods bless his soul.

* * *

 **Chapter 02** : Waking up.

* * *

 _[?]_

He awoke with a cold sweat, gasping for air as if breaking from a harrowing dive.

And promptly found himself in a hospital gown, stripped of his armor. He snapped upright, his hand scrambled to the direction of Crocea Mors, but found nothing there.

Crapcrapcrap crap.

His eyes scanned the room around him, quickly analysing the situation. His vision was still a bit blurry and unfocused, his body numb and somehow sore at the same time but he was in a hospital room. He didn't recognize this place tho. Not Glenn's, it smelled of roses and disinfectants, not the stench of red oxidized iron stilling in puddles. The room was also far too quiet, almost silent if not for the low humming of the air-conditioner and the steady, peaceful breathing sound of somebody sitting by his right side, fast asleep.

"Ruby?"

Her silver eyes snapped open immediately, a habit ingrained deep into any veteran soldier or hunter. Turning to him, she blinked in surprise before an embarrassed shade of red crept up her cheeks.

"Finally waking up, huh?" She smiled apologetically.

He shot her an unamused stare.

"Sorry."

"Where are we?" He asked, his memories coming back. Good grief, to get KO'ed like that so easily...

"Vale." She idly said as she straightened out her clothes. She was wearing a white form-fitting button-up shirt, interweaved with Gravity dust for increased acrobatic ability; over it was a scarlet multi-pocket leather jacket that was further reinforced with Metal dust and embroidered on it's backside her insignia. She still wore a combat skirt as usual tho, with a pair of slightly tattered stockings and sturdy knee-high boots. Her uncle's red coat was draped over the armchair, next to a folded Crescent Rose and a simple rucksack.

"Wha? Where exactly am I?" He was a bit taken back by that answer.

"Vale, I told you." She turned around, pulling the window blinds up. His eyes was glared by the sudden influx of light, but then he saw the silhoute of the Beacon tower being reconstructed in the distance - along with dozens of construction cranes.

It _was_ Vale.

His eyes twitched, switching between the window frame and the awkwardly smilling Rose several times. His mind stuck between a simple 'What.' and 'How.'

In the end, he simply settled with something a bit more emergent. "...How long was I out?"

"'Till now?"

He nodded. She pulled out her scroll and checked.

"Long enough, I guess. You was well asleep for... more than a day."

"What?!" His eyebrows shot up into his hairline at this information. He immediately tried to get down from the bed only for - _cramps! "Ach!"_

"Pfft!" She bit her lower lip, struggling to hold back an amused giggle at his demise.

"It's not time to joke Ruby, seriously," He said while forcing his legs to stretch out. Ouch, cramps worth a whole day in bed. "I still need to-"

"No no mister, you aren't going back so soon!" She stopped laughing immediately, her hands gently pushing him back down. "Not after you have had a proper rest."

"I just did! For an entire day!" He protested, sitting right back up.

"Not. _Enough_." She pushed him back down.

He sat back up.

She pushed him back down.

He sat up.

She pushed him down.

Again. And again. And again.

They said nothing as they stared. Well, more like a stern look from Ruby, one he responded with his own puppy dog eyes.

She gave him a look that said ' _Do you really think that would work on_ _me?'_

 _'It's worth a try..._ ' He deflated under her stare. She did it many times to him before, always worked. His eyes drooped down, exasperated. _'Any reason you are doing this?'_

 _'What?'_ She scowled jokingly, her hands over her heart faking being hurt _'Other than helping out an old friend?'_

 _'By knocking me out cold?'_ He raised an eyebrow at this.

 _'Well, it's your fault to let me do it like that so easily.'_ She quipped a grin, but then her smile fell and her eyes took on a serious glint as she spoke aloud "But seriously... _What the heck Jaune?_! Going on missions with _less than 1% aura?_ Were you trying to kill yourself?!"

"Of-" he tried to protest but shrunk back under her bristling gaze as she stood up.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was when Cardin had to send me a letter -cause, hello, _Vacuo_!- saying that you were forgoing sleep, rest, and eat again! And then, as soon as I came back, I was told that you were dragging your half-dead ass out on another S-plus type mission! _S. Plus_. _Type_. Jaune!"

"I know, I know, 'kay! I pushed myself a little bit too hard..."

"'A bit' _my ass_!" She quipped.

"Well... maybe more than a little bit."

"But it is not an excuse to go and do something idiotic like that!" She growled lowly "At least lay down and have a little nap once in a while!"

"But I don't have the time to!" he protested...

"And that's why _we_ are making you some Jaune." ...and promptly regretted it when she took out a envelope from one of her jacket's many pockets and handed it to him.

He stared at it. The thing seemed to emit an aura of dread and ill-foreboding, on it the red seal of the Council. He gulped, a sinking feeling coiling in his gut.

"Read it."

He nervously tore it open, taking the letter inside out. Unfolding it, he could see the carefully written name and signature of Councillor Weiss Schnee at the bottom of the letter. His eyes widened in horror.

"To Commander Jaune Arc of the RCF." He read outloud, a cursing mantra began to play in his head. "With your outstanding performance and exceptional contributions in the last 7 years to Remnant, the Council is extremely regretted to hear that your health has been deteriorating..." his eyes glanced at Ruby's fearfully, in which she only gave a 'keep reading' nod. "As a reward, the Council had deemed it approriate that you are to be temporarily relieved of duty, put on a paid vacation and assigned a caretaker until your health has sufficently recovered. Ruby, what's the meaning of _this?_!"

"It means you are not going back to the frontline, not until I say you can, that's what!" She grinned victoriously, a definitely wicked edge to her lips.

"B-but... _Ruby_?!"

"No 'but's Jaune." She said. Her arms folded with finality, like a teacher scolding a student.

His mouth hung open, then closed, then open again.

Her eyes narrowed.

He slumped down in defeat.

.

.

.

A few seconds later, he broke into a chuckle which then evolved into a laughing fit. A second later, her facade followed his own as she too couldn't take it, joining in laughing over the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, almost doubling over.

After their laugher died down, Jaune's gaze dropped to the hospital sheets momentarily, yet a gleam in his eyes was reminiscent and dear in nature. It only now struck him how much he actually missed little moments like this. Being carefree like they once were, before all of this.

"Seeing that you agree with me now..." recomposing herself, she wiped off a stray droplet of tear from her silver eyes. "Better get you something to wear then, cause we are heading downtown. It ain't a break if you stay in bed all day, ya know?"

He looked down at his lime hospital gown.

"Sent your gears to Ol'man Shopkeep's. Almost scared him out of his mind with the state they were in." She nodded, answering his unsaid question.

"Uh... so do I have anything to wear now?" He asked, a bit worried. All he had was his combat set, several BDUs and a suit he only used when he had to deal with the Dust-damned Council.

"Well, gimme a minute." She idly wondered, turning to the rucksack next to her. "I remember putting them somewhere aound here..."

"Wouldn't my BDUs be just fine?"

"Jaune, you are on a vacation, not in for even more work! Liven up a little!" She gave him a disapproving scowl, before continueing digging into the sack. He nervously watched on, inching back only to be stopped by the bed's frame.

"Ah, here they are!" She cheerfully said, pulling something out.

He would have done a spit-take had he got something in his mouth. He didn't, so it simply hung open, his eyes almost bulging out in shock at the display of a _rainbow-striped shirt_ and a pair of brown denims.

"I picked 'em up on the way here at Oscar's!" She defended herself "I raided your drawers, but all I came up with was a bunch of lousy under shirts and briefs. It's not my fault your selection of clothings is worse than mine."

"..." Damn you Cardin.

"Com'on, they aren't _that_ bad." She rolled her eyes "and besides, only thing else I've got is my pajamas."

Grumbling, he snatched the cursed article of clothings from her hands. To be honest, he was half-tempted to take the pajamas.

His feet touched the cold floor.

"Hehe." she chuckled, her hand pointing at an unassuming door in the corner "Go suit up, the bathroom is over there."

He nodded, walking to the door she pointed. His muscles tensed before opening the door, his combat instincts kicking in. He bit his lips, scolding himself. This wasn't Glenn.

Before he stepped inside, however, he turned back to her. "And Ruby?"

"Yeah Jaune?"

"Thanks. I really appreciated it." A small smile came to his lips, but warm and sincere.

"It's nothing Jaune." She smiled back. As he closed the door behind him, he almost missed her quiet whisper.

"And thank you too."

* * *

 **A/N:** So, this is chapter 2. A bit short, a small chat and all that. Don't worry tho! Next off they are heading to Vale... and oooooh... let's see how the city has changed, shall we?

And thanks, Sandiiitos! Cheerios! ;)

Ps: as my summer had just ended yesterday (three hooras to the Viet school system!) my updates will be a bit slowed. That and next chapter will be much longer.


End file.
